Gassing machine



July 1, 1930. c. E. BUCKLEY GASSING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 6, 1928 M An Q Y .J A M 9 MN. mnT uh in M 3 A P A E whim o R J E r. m I O m T. n L I :Pa 0 MW mw mm hm mw w mm Q & T om MN Om &\ a mu & wm mm mm mm N%SN Q m m "s m V INVENTOA ATTORNEY July 1, 1930. c. E. BUCKLEY 'GASSING MACHINE Filed March 6, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 1, 1930 inset GASSING MACHINE Application filed March 6,

This invention relates to machines for gassing yarns or threads by advancing a se ries of adjacent yarns or threads arranged in sheet form past one or more burners to burn off the fine fibers, flulf and the like.

In the operation of gassing machines it is important that the yarns or threads be eX- posed to the flame only while they are being advanced, for it is apparent that if the movement of the yarns or threads is arrested while they are passing through the flame they will be severed by the flame.

Gassing machines as commonly constructed heretofore have employed one or more burners mounted on a frame or carriage positioned below the sheet of threads to be gassed and adapted to be raised toward and lowered from the sheet of threads. The movement of a carriage from its lowered or non-gassing position to its elevated or gassing position, or from its elevated to its lowered position, necessarily requires an appreciable period of time, during which the threads that travel past the burners are not properly gassed. In order to treat this ungassed section of the sheet of threads it has been customary to feed back this section of the sheet and advance it over the burners again, or advance the group of burners lengthwise of the sheet far enough to retreat this ungassed section.

While this practice employed heretofore for gassing threads works more or less satisfactorily in most cases, it cannot be satisfactorily employed to gas hard twisted yarns of the type that will kink and become tangled the instant they become slack.

The present invention therefore relates to an improved form of gassing machine having novel means for quickly presenting the gas sing flame to the sheet of yarns or threads as the machine is started up, and for quickly re moving the flame therefrom as the machine is stopped. As a result the threads are prevented from traveling past the burners in an un assed condition, thus making it unnecessary to feed the sheet of threads back, or ad- Vance the burners along an ungassed section of the sheet as heretofore.

An important feature of the present inven tion resides in a burner supported for rota- 1928. Serial No. 259,393.

tion about its longitudinal axis so that its flame can be quickly moved toward and from the gassing position.

Another feature of the invention resides in means mounted upon the burner and adapted to engag and lift the sheet of yarn as the burner i; turned away from its gassing posi tion, and still another feature of the invention resides in means for reducing the flow of gas when the burner is turned away from its gassing position.

The above and other features of the invention and novel combination of parts will be best understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings showing one good practical form thereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a gassing machine constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the machine of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale is a sectional perspective View of one of the burners; and

Fig. 4: is a side View of mechanism for stopping the gassing machine.

In the embodiment of the invention illus trated in the drawings the series of yarns or threads to be gassed are led from the supply beam 10 to the take-up beam 11, which latter beam may constitute the usual section beam or ball warper.

In the construction shown the supply beam 10 is supported at the desired elevation from the floor by the frame 12 and the take-up beam, driving mechanism therefor, and other associated parts are mounted upon the frame 13, while the burners for gassing the varns or threads are supported upon the interinedi- 9G ate frame 14. T he use of the separate frames 12, 13 and 14 permits the distance between the frames 12 and 13 to be varied to accommodate any desired number of burners, but in many constructions it may be found desirable to mount all parts of the gassing machine upon a single frame.

The series of adjacent yarns or threads, 111 the construction shown, are led from the supply beam '10 in sheet form over the idle roll 15 and through the back combs 16. The idle roll 15 and combs 16 may be supported by the brackets 17 carried by the beam supporting frame 12, and the brackets 17 are preferably provided with the upwardly extending posts 18 adapted to support the check bar 19, which extends transversely of the machine and serves to prevent the threads 20 from being elevated sutliciently to move out of engagement with the combs 16.

The sheet of threads 20 pass from the back comb 16 over any desired number of burners 21, three burners being shown in the present construction. The threads 20 after being acted upon by the burners 21 pass through the intermediate combs 22 supported upon the frame 13 and a second check bar 23 may be supported by the uprights 24 adjacent the combs 22 to prevent the threads 20 from being moved upwardly out of engagement with the combs 22. The sheet of adjacent yarns or threads pass from the combs 22 over the measuring roll 25, and then through the front combs 26, over the idle roll 27 and are led downwardly from the idle roll 27 to the sec tion beam or ball warper 11.

A drop or tension roll 28 is preferably provided to rest upon the portion of the sheet extending from the combs 22 to the measuring roll 25, and this tension roll is adapted to move up and down the guideways 29 formed at the opposite sides of the supporting frame 13, the arrangement being such that the roll 28 will move downwardly under its own weight to take up any slack that may occur in the sheet of yarns or threads.

The take-up beam 11 may be driven in a well known manner by the driving drum 30,

i and the trunnions at the opposite ends of the beam 11 are journaled in bearings provided at the outer ends of the pivoted arms 31, the upper ends of which arms are pivotally secured at 32 to the supporting frame 13. The arms 31 serve to support the beam 11 so that this beam may swing upwardly as the amount of yarn wound 011 the beam increases; this, however, is the usual construction employed to drive a section or other type of beam upon which a sheet of adjacent yarns or threads are being wound. The driving drum 30 may be driven as usual by providing a 'fastand loose-pulley (not shown) to drive the shaft 33 of the drum 30 so that the winding operation may be started and stopped by shifting the driving belt from the fast and loose pulley.

It is desirable to provide the present gassing machine with drop wire stop mechanism for arresting the winding operation in case a thread 20 breaks, or becomes too slack. Any of the well known forms of drop wire stop mechanism such as are employed on warping machines may be provided to this end, and in the construction shown two rows of drop wires 34 and 35 are provided. The arrangement of these drop wires is such that as long as they are held in the elevated position in which they are shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing they will clear the oscillating bars 36 and 37 which bars are supported by the arms 38 that are rigidly secured to the rocking shaft 39. Rocking movement is imparted to the shaft 39 by the frontwardly extending arm 40 and the outer end of this arm is connected by the cooperating links 41 and 42 to the actuator This actuator is shown as a curved lever which rocks about the pivotal support 44, and the outer end of this lever is provided with a roller 45 which operates within a cam groove 46 formed in a cam 47 secured "to the rotating shaft 33. The arrangement is such that when the driving shaft 33 is rotated the cam groove 46 will rock the lever 43 to raise and lower the cooperating links 41 and 42 to thereby rock the transversely extending bars 36 and 37. If a thread 20 breaks or becomes sufficiently slack to permit its drop wire to move downwardly into the path of a bar 36 or 37 the movement of such bar in a right-hand direction viewing Fig. 2 will be arrested. This will prevent the link 41 from moving downwardly with the link 42 with the result that a shoulder upon the link 41 will push the upper end of the link 42 in a left-hand direction viewing Fig. 2 to engage an arm 48 of the trip lever 49 which lever is pivotally mounted at 50. This will rock the trip lever 49 in a direction to cause a pin 51 at the upper end of this lever to raise the bar 52 and thereby release the shipper or power control lever 53.

The shipper 53 has a handle at its upper end adapted to be engaged and pulled in a righthand direction viewing Fig. 2 to start the machine and the lever 53 will be held in this position throughout the proper operation of the machine by the bar 52 which is provided with a hook or latch portion adapted to engage a projection 54 upon the supporting frame 13. The lever 53 when released by raising the bar 52 moves rearwardly to the dotted position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 under the action of a weighted arm 55 which arm is secured to and projects rearwardly from a rocking shaft 56 mounted near the base of the frame 13. The shipper 53 is pivotally secured to the frame 13 by the pivot pin 44, and rocking movement is imparted from the lever 53 to the rocking shaft 56 by providing the shipper with a laterally extending rod 58 adapted to operatively engage the arm 59 which is secured to and projects upwardly from the rocking shaft 56. It will. be apparent from the mechanism just described that when the rod 52 is raised to release the shipper 53 the latter will move rearwardly under the action of the weight arm 55 to stop the driving mechanism of the gassing machine, and when the shipper 53 is pulled frontwardly it will start the driving mechanism for the gassing machine, as the rocking shaft 56 is provided with means for shifting the driving belt. If desired, the rocking shaft 56 may be provided with a frontwardly extending arm 60 having at its forward end a treadle 61 upon which the machine operator may press with his foot to assist in moving the shipper 53 to its driving position.

Having described the mechanism for advancing the sheet of yarns over the burners 21, and the stop mechanism for controlling the driving mechanism, the construction and operation of the burners, and the means for preventing the gas flame from acting upon the yarns when the travel of the yarns is arrested, will now be described.

In accordance with the present invention each of the burners 21 has the tubular construction shown and is supported transversely of the gassing machine so that it may be rotated about a central longitudinal axis to move the gassing flame towards and from the sheet of yarns 20. To this end one end of each of the burners 21 is journaled in a supporting bracket 62 and the other end of each burner is journaled in ahollow head or pipe coupling 63. These pipe couplings 63 are connected to the gas supply pipe ea. A ground joint may be provided between the end of each'tubular burner 21 and the head in which said end fits, so that the burner may be rotated therein without the escape of gas about the bearing. Each burner 21 preferably has a longitudinally extending slot 65, as best shown in Fig. 3, through which the gas escapes to form the desired flame and a strip of wire screen 66 may be secured within the tubular burner 21 over the inner face of the slot to produce a more uniform flame.

The outer edge of the slot is preferably provided with the raised ribs 67 that help to define the shape of the flame and serve also to support the traveling strands being gassed, as will be apparent from Fig. 2.

As above pointed out it is essential to relieve the strands 20 from the action of the flame before their traveling movement is arrested, and this should be accomplished quickly to reduce to a minimum the travel of the strands past the burners after these burners have ceased to perform their gassing operation. In accordance with the present invention, movement of the shipper 53 to the machine stopping position serves to rotate the burners 21 to move their flames clownwardly away from the sheet of strands 20, and at the same time this sheet of strands is elevated to the dotted position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 by providing each burner with the projecting arms 68 adapted to support the lease rod 69, the arrangement being such that during the normal gassing operation of the machine these lease rods lie in the lowered position in which they are shown in full lines in Fig. 2; but when the burners are rotated to turn the slots 65 to the non-gassing position the lease rods are moved upwardly to the position in which they are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 to hold the sheet of yarn or threads in the elevated position. The desired rotation of the burners 21 is effected in the embodiment of the invention illustrated by providing each burner 21 with a ring gear 70 and these gears mesh with the sliding rack 71 the forward end of which is connected by a link 72 with the arm 59 which extends upwardly from the rocking shaft 56. The arrangement is such that when the shipper 53 is released and moves rears wardly under the action of the weight arm 55 the rack 71 is pushed rearwardly to rotate each burner 21 from its full line position to its dotted line position of Fig. 2. As a result of this construction movement of the shipper 53 through a comparatively small angle will serve to rotate the burner 21 quick ly through a much larger angle so that the action of the flame upon the sheet of yarns can be arrested very quickly as the travel of the yarns is stopped, and when the travel of the yarns is effected by moving the shipper 53 to its forward position the burners are quickly returned to their gassing position in which they are shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The fuel for the burners, which may be illuminating gas, is furnished by the fuel supply pipe 73 having the hand valve 74, and the amount of air supplied the burner may be controlled by providing the air inlet. pipe 7 5 having a disk 7 6 pivotally secured to its outer end and adapted to be adjusted to vary the size of the air inlet opening in this pipe. It is desirable to provide means for automatically lowering the flame of the burners when the burners are turned to their nongassing position and this is accomplished in accordance with the present invention by providing the fuel supply pipe 73 with a second valve 77 having a valve operating arm 78 which is urged downwardly by the tension spring 7 9 the lower end of which may be secured to the floor. The outer end of the arm 7 8 is connected to the upwardly extending arm 59 by a flexible connection 80 the intermediate portion of which is looped about the pulley 81. The arrangement is such that when the shipper 53 is moved frontwardly the valve 77 is opened wide by the lifting pull of the flexible connection 80, and when the shipper 53 is moved rearwardly the valve controlling arm 78 is moved downwardly under the action of the spring 79 to partially cut off the supply of fuel to the burners.

In order to quickly stop the rotation of the beams 10 and 11 when the machine is being brought to rest, itis desirable to provide brake mechanism for checking the rotation of each of these beams, and this is accom plished in the embodiment of the invention illustrated by providing the rocking shaft 56 with the brake band or strap 82 that is looped about a pulley carried by the driving shaft 33. The arrangement is such that the rocking shaft 56 will draw the brake band 82 tightly about the pulley 83 as the shaft 56 is moved to its machine stopping position. Rotation of the let-off beam 10 as the machine is brought to rest is retarded by providing this let-off beam with a brake pulley 84 about which the brake band 85 is looped and application of this brake band to the pulley is effected as the machine is brought to rest by providing the cable or flexible connection 86 one end of which is connected to the brake band 85 and the other end is connected to a lever 87 which projects rearwardly from the rocking shaft 56. An intermediate portion of the flexible connection 86 is looped about the pulley 88 and the arrangement is such that the rocking movement of the shaft 56 in a direction to stopthe gassing machine will tension the flexible connection 86 to apply the brake band 85 upon the let-off beam.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the rotating burners may be rotated quickly to and from the yarn gassing position to insure the action of the flame upon the traveling yarn and the arresting of the gassing action as the travel of the yarns is stopped, and as a result only a. small portion of the sheet of yarn will move past the burners without being gassed as the machine is started and stopped.

If desired this small section of ungassed yarn may be gassed by merely rotating the supply beam 10 back by hand, while the machine is at rest, to wind back on this beam one or more feet of the yarn warp, to insure gassing of this section when the machine is again started. Furthermore, due to the comparatively short distance between the supporting and spacing combs 16 and 22, suflicient tension may be maintained upon each strand of yarn to prevent hard twisted yarn from kinking up when gassed upon the present machine, thus overcoming a serious difficulty that has been experienced heretofore in attempting to gas hard twisted yarns in the form of a sheet or warp.

\Vhat is claimed is 1. In a machine for gassing yarns or threads, in combination, means for effecting longitudinal movement of a series of adjacent yarns or threads arranged in sheet form, a burner supported transversely of said advancing sheet in position to gas the yarns or threads, means for supporting the burner for rotation about its longitudinal axis, means for rotating the burner about said axis to turn its flame toward and away from said sheet, and a yarn supporting rod secured to the burner for movement therewith and adapted to be moved into lifting engagement with said sheet as the burner is rotated to its nongassing position.

2. In a machine for gassing yarns or threads, in combination, means for effecting longitudinal movement of a series of adjacent yarns or threads arranged in sheet form, a burner supported transversely of said advancing sheet to gas the yarns or threads, and provided with a burner slot, means for supporting the burner for rotation about a longitudinal axis to turn the slot toward and away from said sheet, and a yarn engaging rod seemed to the burner at a substantial angle to said slot to be actuated by the rotation of the burner and adapted to engage the yarns or threads and force them away from the burner as the latter is turned to its non-gassing position and to be moved out of engagement with the yarns or threads as the burner is turned to its gassing position.

3. In a machine for gassing yarns or threads, in combination, means for advancing a series of adjacent yarns or threads in the direction of their length, burners supported transversely of the advancing yarns or threads, means for supporting each burner for rotation about its longitudinal axis, a yarn lifter upon each burner and adapted to be swung downwardly in the arc of a circle out of engagement with the yarns or threads as the burners are turned to the thread gassing position and operable to lift the yarns or threads as the burners are turned away from their gassing position.

4. In a machine for gassing yarns or threads, in combination, a burner supported for rotation about an axis extending lengthwise thereof, means for advancing a sheet of yarns or threads past the burner, means for rotating the burner about said axis to turn its flame toward and from said sheet,'and a yarn supporting rod secured to the burner for movement therewith and adapted to be swung into lifting engagement with said sheet as the burner is rotated to its non-gassing position.

5. In a machine for gassing yarns or threads, in combination, a tubular burner supported for rotation about its longitudinal axis, means for advancing a sheet of yarns or threads past the burner, mechanism for quickly rotating the burner to turn its flame toward and from said sheet, including a rocking lever, a gear secured to said burner and a toothed member engaging the gear and operable by said lever to rotate the burner, and a yarn lifter mounted on the burner for movement therewith and adapted to be swung into lifting engagement with said sheet as the burner is rotated to its non-gassing position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES E. BUGKLEY. 

